Monday, May 11, 2015

Cashless society is coming

Denmark will be the first country without cash in the world. The government is preparing to scrap the obligation for shops to accept cash payment.

The Times of India: Denmark set to turn cash-free

It is an innovative policy. Nowadays, people using the real money is decreasing. But some people use coins and notes, nonetheless. Shops always have to store some amount of money for a charge. It costs safe spaces and time of management. In contrast, shopkeepers will not worry about robbers and thieves if they equip only a credit card reader at the reception.


Cashless society is friendly to travelers. You need not exchange your money to foreign currency at the airport with a disadvantageous rate. When I came to London, I was surprised that 50 GBP notes were seldom used in the UK. Indeed, I have not seen this note yet. In Japan, I felt anxious when I equipped no 10,000 JPN note. Now, I am not concerned to my wallet empty but a credit card.

In the future, will Denmark abandon to issue any cash? I think so, because publishing notes and casting coins are also burdens for the government. Indeed, the amount of cash newly produced is gradually decreasing worldwide. Even in Japan, one of the countries in which people love cash, the annual production of the coins were rapidly reduced recently, except in 2014 when the consumption tax rate was amended.

In this article, worry about fraud was introduced as cons of a cashless society. In Sweden, card fraud cases were doubled in this decade. It is unsure which is safer, cash and cards. In general, credit cards are protected by the issuer. But there is a risk of being victimized by cyber crimes. In such cases, the damage can be enormous.

It is noteworthy that even if the government stops issuing cash it will still be the issuer of the currency. The government and the national bank are responsible to control the price. Otherwise, the domestic economy will be quite vulnerable. The day when Bitcoin will be the common currency is still a dream.

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